In this episode I talk with Claude Rubinson. We talk his experience learning and using functional programming as a sociologist, organizing software user groups, and more.Our Guest, Claude Rubinson.Claude RubinsonHouston Functional Programmers websiteHouston Functional Programmers on TwitterOCaml Café on TwitterAnnouncements:clojureD is taking place June 11th in Berlin, Germany. The Call for Presentations is open through March 4th. Visit https://clojured.de/ for more information and to submit your proposal.Lambda Days 2022 has been moved to the 28th and 29th of July in Krakow, Poland. Visit lambdadays.org to keep up to date.Some of you have asked how you can support Functional Geekery, in that vein, Functional Geekery now has a Patreon Page.If that is one of the ways you would like to show your support, you can find out more at https://www.patreon.com/fngeekery.Topics [@Welcome ClaudeAbout ClaudeBeing a Sociology Professor and being on a functional programming podcastHow Claude got interested in Functional ProgrammingUnixPythonLispLarry Wall“Learn a functional programming language for good measure”Reading books and listening to podcastTrying to understand the philosophy of functional programmingHouston Functional Programming User GroupClaude’s previous background with softwareUniversity of GeorgiaCompensation Survey going full-in on the internetActive Server PagesSQLThe Dot-Com bustLinuxBerkeley Unix Users GroupO’Reilly Press“sed & awk” bookLaTeX[R]()https://www.r-project.org/University of ArizonaCharles RaginQualitative Comparative AnalysisBoolean Algebra and Set TheoryTuscon Free Unix GroupHaving to write own version of software for LinuxUniversity of Houston DowntownHouston Python MeetupWhat made Functional Programming attractive for next re-write“You don’t really understand recursion”Modeling Data in a SQL DatabaseUsing Programming Language to impose rigor on thinkingAlgebraic Data TypesImmutable DataGene Kim’s “Love Letter to Clojure”The Biggest Problem in Functional ProgrammingHaving to pick things up really quicklyWas lucky to be able to take the time to absorb ideasOCamlGetting Up and Running with an OCaml project“This is hard, it is going to take some time, and that is okay.”Eric Normand’s perspective on explaining as “Data, Calculation, and Actions”ElmTelling a story of the problem before selling the solutionFunctional Programming for taming complexity and scalabilityPicking a “Functional Forward” or “Functional First” languageJavaScriptWhat Claude appreciated the Functional Programming communityHaskellQtHigh Signal to Noise ratioGenerous and kind communityMembers know a number of languages, so can provide comparisons between languagesHow Claude uses Type SystemsTcl/TkOusterhout’s DichotomyUsing the type system to think through reasoning“How to do QCA well”Using Type Signatures (without code) to map the process“Understanding the Ontology of Measurement”Writing good clean functions that stand on their own“Working in OCaml to understand how to do QCA and how to do it well”Houston Functional Programming User GroupLikely sticking to Hybrid FormatAlways looking for speakers“Introduction to” gets more people showing upEncourage people to give presentations (even if short ones)OCaml CaféCall for stability from Programming Language Designers and Library maintainersAs always, a giant Thank You goes to David Belcher for the logo design.